U.S. Department of Energy Secretary
Samuel Bodman and Chinese Chairman of National Development and Reform Commission
Ma Kai signed a memorandum of understanding in December that paves the way
for a U.S.-China partnership for nuclear energy. Volume three of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report mentions nuclear energy
partnerships as key factors in mitigating future climate change.

Mitigating the effects of climate change is not only cost-effective
over the next 25 years, but it is actually affordable, according to the third
summary report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC), released today in Bangkok, Thailand. The third summary report, which
focuses on the scientific, technological, environmental, economic and social
aspects of various mitigation strategies, suggests that these strategies need
to be put in place soon  perhaps by 2015  to halt the increase of
greenhouse gas emissions linked to rising global temperatures.

The amount of global greenhouse gas emissions in our air has
ballooned since pre-Industrial times, the report said. Between 1970 and 2004,
greenhouse gas emissions increased 70 percent, with carbon dioxide emissions
alone increasing 80 percent. The largest growth has been in the energy sector,
especially from transport and industry. If fossil fuels remain the dominant
global energy source and no actions are taken to limit emissions, then greenhouse
gas emissions will rise anywhere from 25 to 90 percent by 2030, the researchers
said: Governments need to come up with immediate and long-term strategies to
stem emissions.

To that end, although the more than 2,500 scientists involved
in the report agreed that "no one sector or technology can address the
entire mitigation challenge," they did agree to embark on several mitigation
strategies by 2030, with the most extensive changes needing to come in the energy
and transportation industries.

Some alternatives are already commercially available, such
as switching from coal and oil to natural gas and nuclear power, or making vehicles
more fuel efficient and using biofuels, especially those made from cellulose
(the stalky, woody parts of plants and trees). The report also detailed some
key technologies that are not yet commercialized but could be by 2030, such
as efficient and regular carbon capture and storage, advanced renewable energies
including tidal and better solar energies, and putting more advanced electric
and hybrid cars on the road.

To determine the economic impacts of these and other ideas,
the authors came up with cost models in U.S. dollars per ton of carbon dioxide
equivalent (the amount of greenhouse gases). The report concluded that every
country should be able to afford mitigation strategies, especially if developed
countries share technologies with developing nations. The economic models suggest
that although some of the strategies the report recommends may require higher
upfront investment, and thus some financial losses in the immediate future,
in the longer term, costs will be reduced for nearly everyone.

IPCC delegates told reporters at a press conference on Friday
that this report should stifle arguments by skeptics, such as that combating
climate change is too costly or that it would suppress development in poor countries.
They said that the publication sets the stage for an even stronger international
agreement than the controversial Kyoto Protocol. The Associated Press quoted
Ogunlade Davidson, chair of one of the working groups, as saying, "If we
continue doing what we are doing now, we are in deep trouble."

The report released today is the third volume of the IPCC
Fourth Assessment Report. The first volume, released Feb. 2, summarizes current
understandings of the physical factors driving climate change (see Geotimes
online, Web Extra, Feb. 2, 2006). The second volume, released April 6, focuses
on how communities and resources around the world are already experiencing climate
change, and on these communities' vulnerability and ability to adapt to those
changes (see Geotimes online, Web Extra, April 6, 2007).